Local News

Bondi's world champion.

Tenacious Pauline is a Genuine World Champion

Words Duncan Horscroft Photo Derek Ho

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since American Margo Oberg became the first women’s world professional surfing champion in 1975. In those days women’s surfing was regarded as unimportant and a novelty compared to the men’s events.

Women fought for recognition through the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, and virtually had to pay their own way in hope of attracting decent sponsorship, and it wasn’t until the mid-‘80s that the girls were given their own stand-alone contest - the Agree Pro at Maroubra Beach.

As a haircare company, Agree promoted the contest by giving some of the top surfers a full makeover and used them in a series of advertisements.

At that time, South African Wendy Botha was the world champion. She had the looks as well as the ability, which was the ideal marketing tool.

Pauline Menczer became Bondi’s only world champion in 1993 after finally beating her nemesis Botha, but the accolades of being a world champ went unrecognised as she had no sponsors and received only a broken trophy for her efforts.

She was regarded as sort of an “ugly duckling” with her freckly face, dark hair and impish grin among a flock of blonde-haired, blue-eyed competitors.

But she remains philosophical about the fact she never received the recognition from the sponsors or her peers.

“I'm not sure why I didn’t, maybe because I was never a groupie,” she told The Beast.

“I basically would surf my heats and then go, and I did miss out on sponsorship dollars.”

“A lot of people think it was because I didn’t have the look that the surfing community wanted - the blonde hair, etc. I was this dark-haired, frecklefaced kid.”

Menczer is no stranger to adversity, suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis since she was 14. But that never stopped her from winning the world amateur title as an 18-year-old in 1988 and the professional world title in 1993, after being runner-up in ‘91 and ‘92.

“I had friends pushing me around in shopping trolleys because I had trouble walking. I couldn’t even free-surf the year I was going for the title, but then as soon as I put the contest jersey on and went out in the water, the adrenaline was amazing and the pain would disappear,” she explained.

Overall, Menczer won 20 World Championship Tour events and eight World Qualifying Tour contests, a record only bettered by seven-time world champion Layne Beachley.

More recently, Pauline has suffered from a rare autoimmune disease. For two years now her body has been wracked with painful blisters that resemble burns, and she has been on high doses of steroids.

“This has been horrendous both mentally and physically because my body has felt like it’s been burnt in a fire.”

Bondi filmmaker Chris Nelius recently released Girls Can’t Surf, a documentary featuring a group of “renegade” women surfers fighting for recognition in the male-dominated sport during the ‘80s.

Pauline’s plight is featured in the film and, as a result, a GoFundMe page has already raised over $40,000 for the treatment of the disease.

“Originally we were hoping to raise $25,000, but the response has been amazing and now we can give the extra money to other charities,” she said.

“I have been in touch with a man in the Philippines who has the same potentially fatal disease and hopefully we can provide funds for him to get the proper treatment.”

Nelius has since approached Waverley Council in an effort to get a statue of Pauline erected at Bondi Beach. And why not? Bondi has been recognised as a National Surfing Reserve and who better to represent that recognition than Bondi’s first and only world professional champion?

Bin bits found on Coogee Beach.

An Honest Review of FOGO

Words and Photos Nicola Smith

During the past month, shiny new green bins with FOGO caddies zip tied to them landed on the doorsteps of most homes in Randwick City.

FOGO stands for Food Organics Garden Organics and is a new scheme allowing Randwick City residents to separate their waste to be composted (food scraps could not previously be added to the council green bins).

Each household has received a kitchen caddy, a lime green FOGO bin (that will be collected weekly) and a set of compostable caddy liners.

The new FOGO scheme has found many supporters in the community, as well as several critics who are quick to point out the initial teething problems of the scheme.

Comments on the Randwick Council Facebook page have ranged from questions about why perfectly good bins were being taken away to be recycled, to asking why bins haven’t yet been delivered or picked up, with one commenter referring to their street as a “bin convention”.

But with 43 councils in New South Wales currently using FOGO, and its popularity growing, Eastern Beaches residents may just have to get used to it.

The Good

After just a week of FOGO there was half as much waste in our kitchen bin as there usually would have been .

The caddy fits neatly under the sink and the liners appear to be genuinely compostable, unlike many ‘green’ brands at supermarkets that will only degrade in special high temperature facilities where they never arrive.

The list of items that can go into a FOGO bin includes more than your typical compost bin, with tea bags, pizza boxes, bones and even pet waste among the many inclusions.

We initially worried about running out of liners but soon found out that they are delivered each quarter and are available at libraries and customer service centres throughout Randwick City.

The best thing about FOGO happens after the garbage truck leaves. All of Randwick’s FOGO waste is composted by Veolia and used in agriculture - our potato peels are a lot more valuable than you might think!

Environment Protection Authority trials of FOGO compost on farms have found that it increases water retention in soils, increases microbial activity and can increase the yield of crops.

The popular Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground also features FOGO programs in the US as key weapons in regenerative agriculture tackling climate change, as healthy soils have huge CO2 storage capacities.

A representative from Randwick Council said that this was a key part of the FOGO strategy.

“I think the more we can link people’s appreciation of food waste as a valuable resource, the more successful it’ll be and the more meaningful the process of separating food waste at the source will be for people,” the representative told The Beast.

The Bad

Some teething issues with the caddies have already been identified by Randwick Council. The next round of liners will be bigger to fit more easily around the edge of the caddy, and Council has also reminded people that any container works to collect food scraps.

Home composters have been using ice cream tubs under the sink for years before purposebuilt caddies came along.

If you’re a small household, there’s a chance the caddy will start to smell before you fill it up, but of course nothing is stopping you from emptying it when it’s half full.

Other residents complained that their old, perfectly functional bins were replaced when it wasn’t necessary, and that this created more waste than it prevented.

Another change that has irked some residents is the belief that red bins will only be collected once every two weeks, with FOGO and recycling bins collected weekly. Council has informed The Beast that red bins will still be collected weekly for strata apartments and fortnightly for houses. Yellow recycling bins will be collected fortnightly, as they always have been. This should be enough for most households, but larger families may have to readjust to a larger bin that is collected less frequently.

The Ugly

One problem with the FOGO roll-out was brought to The Beast’s attention by Randwick resident ‘KG’, who regularly collects rubbish from the Coogee shoreline on his evening walk and noticed that the plugs connecting the bin lids to the bins were showing up among the usual plastic and ciggie butts.

The Beast spotted contractors working on Knowles Avenue, Matraville, on the afternoon of February 25 using a chisel to sever the plugs to quickly remove the lids and allow the bins to be stacked. Unfortunately these plugs were then left in the gutters. We’ve assumed that the recent rain washed these plugs out to sea and now they’re washing up on our beaches. Council informed The Beast that this issue was rectified during the roll-out.

“Randwick Council is doing a good thing for the environment with FOGO, and I love that, but at what expense somewhere else? Everyone knows about microplastics, so why isn’t the council doing something about it?” KG asked.

The Verdict

FOGO is the way forward in tackling waste problems. Our food waste is very valuable if we sort it properly, and the way we eat and generate waste is intimately connected with how we fight climate change and pollution, so FOGO is an important step in the right direction.

While there may be some teething problems for individuals and issues with the rollout of the new bins, the overall strategy is a good one. In ten years time, FOGO will be so second nature that we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.

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Freedom!

A Taste of Reform for Motorbike Riders

Words Nicola Smith Photo Steve McQueen

Waverley Council has passed a new motion to review current motorbike and scooter parking networks after a notice was introduced by Greens Councillor Elaine Keenan.

Cr Keenan introduced the motion after significant public opposition to a change in parking regulations within Waverley that made the cost of parking a scooter the same as an SUV.

The public outcry included several letters to the editor and articles published in the November and December editions of The Beast.

The new motion includes developing a new parking strategy for bikes and scooters, considering reduced costs for both motorbike parking and infringement notices.

It also includes a proposed 12-month trial of a free parking system like the one already in place in City of Sydney, which allows bikes to park in any ticketed zone for free, provided they observe time restrictions.

With the introduction of new ‘pay by plate’ ticketing in Waverley, motorbikes and scooters can park in metered areas without taking up a whole parking spot.

Bike owners typically park between cars when it’s safe, or up to four bikes can fit in one car parking space.

Cr Keenan believes that the issue comes down to fairness.

“We’ve got the highest proportion of bikes and scooters of any metropolitan local government area in Australia and my fundamental bottom line is that it is unfair for a scooter to have to pay the same amount of money as a big SUV when they take up a quarter of the space,” Cr Keenan told The Beast.

Bondi resident and scooter driver Tim Maunsell supported Cr Keenan’s motion.

“I live just off Bondi Road, and I have to say, in the last 30 years, the traffic is horrendous,” Mr Maunsell said in a video recorded for the motion.

“It’s no fault of the council, but they could definitely help by not restricting, or even favouring, the use of motorcycles to take up a lot less of our carbon footprint and a lot less space.”

Cr Keenan agrees that an effective motorbike strategy is in the interests of all local residents.

“My view is that if people can take their scooters out it reduces congestion and helps the environment. I’ve had my scooter for 15-16 years for all of those reasons,” she said.

Council is set to report back on the motion in June 2021, with the hope that, under point 3 of the motion, parking officers will show leniency on infringing motorbikes in metered areas in the intervening period.

In the meantime, Cr Keenan believes that residents who want equitable parking for bikes and scooters should let their voices be heard.

“People who want to speak up could start a petition and get as many signatures as possible. A lot of signatures tells Council that people really care about an issue,” she said.

If you have something to say about scooters and motorbikes, or if you have started your own petition, please email The Beast at letters@thebeast.com.au.

The future of medicine.

Holistic Health for the Mind

Words Nicola Smith Photo Jacob Taucher

Bondi local Alex Teo is bringing groundbreaking medical therapies to Aussies in a new venture, Cingulum Health, formed in partnership with her neurosurgeon father Dr Charlie Teo and his colleague Dr Mike Sughrue.

Cingulum seeks to challenge traditional treatments of mental health and neurological disorders through a multidisciplinary approach combining the technology developed by Teo’s former venture, Omniscient Neurotechnology, with other holistic health practices.

Cingulum treats patients with a variety of mental and neurological conditions ranging from traumatic brain injury and dementia to anxiety and depression.

Ms Teo, the director of Cingulum, told The Beast that she wanted to build a space where patients would feel safe and at ease.

“I have a background in fashion and customer service and have always been taught that the customer’s experience comes first. That approach feels like it’s missing in the medical world,” she explained, “and when you’re suffering from illness, that’s exactly the kind of service and care you need.”

The offices, located at The Cannery in Rosebery, incorporate open plan and biophilic design, where staff and patients can freely interact while surrounded by greenery and relaxed communal spaces. They also have state of the art consultation rooms, a movement studio and a meditation room.

The technology at the heart of Cingulum is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, which helps the brain form new pathways or ‘circuitry’. While this technology is well established, Cingulum uses it with far more precision, and therefore effectiveness, than ever before. The treatment plans, which are tailored to each individual, also focus on educating patients about holistic practices and providing oversight to connect them with other specialists if required.

Ms Teo said that education about health and alternative therapies can often have the largest impact on their clients.

“We are trying to expose more people to alternative mental health therapies,” Ms Teo said. “‘Alternative’ has this connotation of being ‘hippy dippy’, but a lot of these practices are based in real science and have been around for thousands of years, so we’d be ignorant to dismiss them.”

Cingulum promotes therapies such as meditation and exercise because it believes in them as long-term strategies for managing mental fitness.

“We want to equip clients with tools and strategies so that they don’t need to solely rely on us, but rather feel empowered enough to take control over their own health.”

Ms Teo is joined by Bronte local Ethan Davis, who works at Cingulum as a medical researcher and technician. Mr Davis works with patients, as well as conducting research that Cingulum can publish for review by the scientific community.

“We’re publishing our findings so that we can find better solutions for patients and improve our quality of care,” Mr Davis told The Beast. “I think that’s the only way forward.”

Both Mr Davis and Ms Teo make the most of their homes in the Eastern Beaches to manage their own mental health. Ms Teo starts each day with a swim at Bondi while Mr Davis opts to surf at Bronte. Mr Teo, Ms Teo’s father, is often found kayaking on Sydney Harbour as part of his morning routine.

Ms Teo believes that living in the Eastern Beaches provides plenty of opportunity to strengthen mental fitness.

“We’re so lucky living here. We have amazing local communities, access to good, healthy food, and the ocean on our doorstep,” she said. “It’s the perfect environment in which to lead a balanced lifestyle.”

Randwick News

The Coogee Bay Road Shared Village space will be extended until the end of April this year. It was created to support local businesses and create a festive atmosphere that encouraged people to the town centre while also giving them space to shop and eat.

The project was due to finish in February 2021 but community feedback was so positive that we’re keen to keep it going for a little longer. A survey of 3,029 respondents (nearly 2,000 of whom are from Coogee) revealed that 79% rated the project as good or excellent and 78% wanted the initiative to last longer. So make sure you head down there to soak up the last of the summer vibes.

Sustainability is a core focus for us at Randwick Council, we have several projects and programs that focus on conserving water, reducing energy needs, better managing waste, looking after our coastal environment and ensuring that our residents feel well equipped to lead sustainable lives as well.

We introduced the Community Sustainable rebates program last year to help residents implement a range of energy and water savings initiatives in their own homes that will help to reduce bills. Residents can also receive up to $2,000 in rebates for purchasing rooftop solar, rainwater tanks, pool pumps, insulation, LED lighting or another one of our Sustainable Products. Head to our website to see how you might be able to take part.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter this year, and that you get to spend it with the people who mean the most to you.

Councillor Danny Said

Mayor of Randwick

1300 722 542 randwick.nsw.gov.au

What’s On

UNTIL 26 AUGUST SHELL IT: BOOMALLI AT LA PEROUSE

La Perouse Museum 1542 Anzac Pde, La Perouse

14 APRIL ADVANCED CARE PLANNING WORKSHOP

7pm – 9pm Via Zoom Registration required

EVERY FRIDAY PERMABEE COMMUNITY GARDENING PROGRAM

9am – 12.30pm Randwick Community Centre 27 Munda St, Randwick

21 APRIL HISTORY TALK – ANZAC PDE

6.30pm – 7.30pm Via Zoom

EVERY THURSDAY CHESS CLUB FOR ADULTS

1.30pm – 3pm Lionel Bowen Library 669-673 Anzac Pde Maroubra

Keep your eye on the ball.

Watching Australia from the Outside

Words Siriol Dafydd Photo Boris Becker

I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who isn’t tired of hearing about COVID. It has killed too many, exacerbated poverty and generally disrupted everything. Although some have undoubtedly suffered more than others, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been shat on - at least a little - by COVID.

I was in Wales looking after my dying mother when it started. After a painful battle with cancer, Mam conveniently popped her clogs hours before our Buffoon in Chief (AKA Boris) announced a UK-wide lockdown. While others bought bog roll and baked sourdough, I planned a tiny funeral and stayed away from family and friends when I needed them most. It was the right thing to do but it was too little too late. Boris and his ilk had dillydallied their way into a colossal crisis and we’ve been on the back foot ever since.

A year later, I’m back in lockdown waiting for COVID to calm its farm so I can come home. Like thousands of stranded Aussie residents, I’ve been enviously watching you enjoy something far closer to normality than we could ever hope for. While Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have juggled different strategies to varying levels of success (or lack thereof), Australia has crushed outbreaks and kept deaths impressively low. Every single death is a tragedy, but the countless lives - and livelihoods - saved by decisive action should be celebrated. Although my friends on Aussie soil appreciate that, many also roll their eyes at the extreme measures taken to quash small clusters. Given the history of lockouts and overzealous festival sniffer dogs, it’s understandable that Sydneysiders are cynical of nanny state rules, but as someone living through the savage consequences of inaction, I see these measures as entirely necessary. With even the tiniest hesitation this virus gets wildly out of control, and while snap lockdowns, border closures, travel bans and hotel quarantines have consequences ranging from inconvenient to devastating, trust me when I say that they are better than the alternative.

Of course, it’s easy for me to profess how lucky you are from the other side of the world. We may have it worse but that doesn’t diminish your suffering. You might have low death rates but the logistical, financial and psychological implications of constant upheaval and everchanging restrictions are just as real. In this global clusterfudge of suffering and anxiety, there is room for both resentful wallowing and a healthy dose of perspective - I for one swing wildly between the two on a daily basis. It’s natural to resent drastic measures but if you do, please do this perpetually jealous stranded resident a solid and try to also enjoy the freedom you do have. The truth is I’m not there and I don’t know how you feel. All I can say from a painfully long distance is that I would give my right arm for a pint with friends and a government with faster reflexes.

With a bit of luck, and billions of vaccines, we could be on the home stretch soon. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future I will be back in Bondi enjoying a cold pint of Kosciuszko and we’ll all be free to come and go as we please. Until then, stay strong and be thankful you don’t have Boris in charge.